China: Alibaba Smashed its Singles Day Spending Record Last Weekend

2018-11-16

Alibaba just made e-commerce history, according to an article from World Economic Forum. With the company’s massive Singles’ Day celebration on 11/11, Alibaba reports that customers spent $30.8 billion online over 24 hours. That is a significant increase from the $25.3 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) Alibaba shoppers spent in 2017.

Alibaba’s Singles’ Day celebration is the biggest shopping day of the year, as the company dominates the Chinese e-commerce market. Shoppers — primarily in China, though the company is increasingly offering Singles’ Day deals in new countries — flock to Alibaba sites including Taobao.com and Tmall.com.

More than one billion delivery orders were placed over the course of the 24 hours, the first time Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales surpassed the billion-package landmark. Last year, 812 million orders were placed on 11/11.